Tuesday, February 14, 2006

On February 14, 1853...Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., wrote to a friend with sad news. One of the Fathers of the recently established Birmingham Oratory had gone to his reward:

I am just going to sing a solemn Mass for the soul of our dearest Father Joseph Gordon, the news of whose death came by telegraph at ten last night. You may think in what grief we all are ... God's will be done. It is quite taking away the Spring of our year, but St. Philip knows what he is about. When I was engaged in building this house, I kept saying "Now mind me, we shall have crosses to take up for so fine a place"—and we have had a succession so great, that we alone can understand them. We talked of the chance of bereavement—I think with dear Father Joseph—little thinking it would be he.

The Feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodiusis today. There is information on them here and here.The feast of the Sts. Valentine is today. Some years ago, I posted a poem by the Venerable which he wrote for the young daughter of a friend. Here it is again:

Go and ask, my little child, Ask the Mother undefiled: Ask, for she will draw thee near, And will whisper in thine ear:— "Valentine! the name is good; For it comes of lineage high, And a famous family: And it tells of gentle blood, Noble blood,—and nobler still, For its owner freely pour'd Every drop there was to spill In the quarrel of his Lord. Valentine! I know the name, Many martyrs bear the same; And they stand in glittering ring Round their warrior God and King, — Who before and for them bled,— With their robes of ruby red, And their swords of cherub flame."

Yes! there is a plenty there, Knights without reproach or fear,— Such St. Denys, such St. George, Martin, Maurice, Theodore, And a hundred thousand more; Guerdon gain'd and warfare o'er, By that sea without a surge, And beneath the eternal sky, And the beatific Sun, In Jerusalem above, Valentine is every one; Choose from out that company Whom to serve, and whom to love.